Dream Drop Distance: Kairi's story
by Ultraobsessivenerd
Summary: What if Kairi was a main character in Dream Drop Distance? What if she also took the mark of mastery? What if she had her own story to tell?
1. Prologue

It was another quiet afternoon at Destiny Islands, but Kairi knew the quiet would soon be over. She was sitting in the secret place, looking at the drawing Sora made for her. He drew it a year ago, it was a drawing of him giving her a paopu fruit, and her giving him her lucky charm. After a year that exchange had finally happened. Sora had returned her lucky charm, and on the night of their return from the other worlds, they had shared a paopu fruit together. Sora had told her all about his adventures, Kairi was glad to have him back, but she knew that things were different now. They hadn't seen each other for a year, and in that time, Sora saved the worlds twice, everything Kairi did was wait.

Kairi took out her keyblade, and gazed at it for two minutes. It was a mysterious and magical weapon, which she knew she should be honored to wield, but she felt she didn't deserve it. She remembered herself saying: "This time I'll fight" and yet, once again she was separated from her friends, unable to prove her worth.

That's why she sat in the cave now, thinking. Sora had just received a letter from Disney Castle, they needed him and Riku's help. Kairi didn't want to be separated from them again. She waited for them a whole year, patient, never knowing if they would get back, what kind of danger they were in, or if they were even alive. She didn't want to go through all that pain again. But could she come with them? Would they even want her? Did they still see her as a captured princess? She knew she didn't have the same experience as them, but Sora managed to save all the worlds with as little experience as her. And she was aware that Sora really never was the brigthest.

Kairi excited the cave, she could see Sora and Riku in the distance. Sora sat at their favourite palm tree, looking out at the horizon, clinging to the message from the castle. Riku stood beside the tree, looking at the horizon with him. Kairi had never seen them like that before. Their journey had changed them, aged them, stregnthened them. Kairi wanted the same.

The boys were talking without looking at each other.

"Your mind's made up?"

"Yeah."

Kairi always knew what the answer would be, she walked determined over to them.

"Sora."

"Kairi" Sora said and jumped down from the tree. "I..."

Kairi nodded, he didn't have to say anything, she already knew.

"It's just...they really need me...I have to go. I am, who I am, because of them."

Both Riku and Kairi chuckled. She couldn't argue with that. Maybe she didn't know these new friends of his as well as he did, but she could tell they meant something to him. But she knew she did too.

"Well, if you two are going I'm coming with you."

"Huh? But Kairi...it might be dange..."

"I don't care, I'm not going to wait any longer. Don't you remember our promise Sora. We said we'd be together every day."

She took out her keyblade, both of them looked surprised, despite the fact that they already knew she had it. She hadn't shown it them a while. Then they smiled, and took out their respective keyblades. They all looked at each other, they were a trio again.

"The three of us can never be apart again. Never."


	2. Destiny Islands

It was another warm, sunny and uneventful day on Destiny Islands. Almost. The three friends, Sora, Riku and Kairi were standing at the beach. Gazing at the horizon, once again dreaming about what might be out there. Every day, they felt like they were getting closer and closer.

"But...how far could a raft take us?" Sora asked with his usual optimistic tone.

"Who knows?" Riku said. Serious as always, but slightly more hopeful. "If we have to, we'll think of something else."

Kairi sighed, not taking her eyes away from the horizon. She had a dreamy look in her eyes, and an unshakeable will in her heart. They all had.

"I just can't wait, once we set sail, it'll be great."

Many days and nights later, the three friends found themselves in a completely different scenario than they were used to. The sky was dark, with no hint of any stars. The air was thick, wet and violent, with no hint of warmth. Kairi was starting to think that this was probably a bad idea, but they'd come this far. But how much further could they come at this fragile piece of wood?

"Riku, Kairi. A storm's coming."

"We know Sora, we can see it. The waves are getting steep, furl the sail."

"Aye aye captain" Kairi said while saluting and smiling, though Riku didn't seem to be pleased. She felt he hadn't been pleased for a long time, but she couldn't figure out why.

The three friends approached their old and dirty sail, when suddenly a powerful wind threw it out into the water, with Riku on it.

Kairi felt her heart skip a beat, for a moment she couldn't breathe.

"Riku" the two friends shouted.

It was foggy, but they managed to get a glimpse of him, clinging to the mast. He seemed okay, but they all knew that could change quickly.

"I'm fine" Riku shouted.

Suddenly an eddy manifested out on the water, drawing Riku in. But it didn't look like a normal eddy, there was a blue light in the middle of it. It was strange and ominous, and it was about to get stranger. They heard a manic laugh coming from inside it, and a giant figure suddenly emerged. It looked like an old chubby lady, but she had octopus tentacles and purple skin.

"Oh he was right. Those wretched guppies are here. Well it's about time we settled the score!" She shouted with an old rusty voice, while the waves was splashing and lightning was striking.

"It's Ursula the sea witch!" Sora shouted.

Usurla the sea witch? That name seemed familiar to Kairi. Sora reached out his hand, a light started emerging from it, and a giant metallic key formed itself in Sora's hand The keyblade. Now Kairi remembered, Sora had told her about Ursula, he had fought her on his adventures

"But how?" Kairi shouted. "Is this the test?"

"Come on! You can work it out later!" Riku shouted. He now stood upright and firmly on the mast, now he too had a keyblade in hand. His looked more like a sharp sword, with a dark red and black tone over it. Kairi guessed it reflected his dark nature, but it also had something that looked like an angel wing on the key head. The wing that led him to dawn.

"All right!" Kairi shouted, then took out her own keyblade. Hers was almost the complete opposit of Riku, bright and filled with flowers, with a Paopu fruit as the keychain. Innocent and pure, just like her.

It felt weird being used to summoning it now. It had become a part of her, it was easy as breathing. Yet it still felt so alien.

The three friends all jumped and attacked the sea witch, slashing their keyblades over her giant body, sparks jumping around. It still felt otherworldly, which Kairi guessed it technically was. Her body felt so much more lighter and agile, much more free.

"Fire!"

"Blizzard!"

"Take that!"

"Ha!"

The memories started coming back. They were warned that the familiar surroundings of the dream worlds might trick them, to think that it was real, that they were in the past. But Kairi now knew this wasn't true. She wasn't back home with her friends, going on innocent adventures, exploring the world. It was all an illusion, a test, and she would not fall for it again.

Ursula was screaming in pain, desperately throwing blue orbs at the three kids, but she was no match for their combined strength. Finally she was gone, but the storm wasn't. Riku had managed to get back on the raft during the fight. But now they all had trouble staying there. The currents grabbed hold of them. Violently throwing them down into the eddy.

Kairi couldn't move, couldn't think. They were all drifting aimlessly around under the water.

"This might be the end" Kairi thought. She looked at Sora and Riku, as helpless as she was. She finally felt equal, but this wasn't how she had imagined it. She wanted to say, that despite all that happened, she was glad to know the two of them. If only she could speak.

It was getting darker, and Kairi couldn't breathe. But suddenly a small glimmer of light was shining up at them, and it was getting brighter. Kairi felt her keyblade automatically manifesting in her hand. She looked at the light, they had found the keyhole. Her arm was starting to reach out for it, her keyblade dragging it, like it was acting on it's own will. She looked at Sora and Riku, the same was happening to them.

All three keyblades was pointed toward the keyhole, three blue rays of light came out, and swiftly approached the keyhole. Kairi's eyes were shutting. The last thing she was, was man in a brown cloak. The last thing she heard was the words:

"This world has been connected."

"As a keyblade master, Xehanort had a gift like few others. But such great minds are often plagued by a single great question. What is the essence of the human heart that weakens us, or empower us?"

They all stood in the mysterious tower, in Yen Sid's room. It still had a chilling but intrigueing atmosphere. The walls were littered with books. Books about magic, keyblades, hearts and all sorts of other things the three friends had been studying during their training together. The only light in the room came from moon and star shaped windows in the wall, and a candle light, inserted into a skull. Kairi had long wanted to ask about the skull, but she never dared.

In front of them, sat Yen Sid at his table. Old, dressed in a blue robe and hat with adorn with small moons and stars. It may sound silly, but Yen Sid's chilling and serious nature made it seem different. He always had a firm and expression, a long grey beard that he was always stroking like it was a cat, and wide eyes that would seem dangerous, if it wasn't for his friendly nature.

Beside him were three very different figures. King Mickey, Captain Goofy and court wizard Donald. Sora and Riku's partners during their adventures. They were all dressed like their titles suggested, but their bodies suggested that they indeed were from another world. Their forms were humanoid animals, Mickey was a mouse, Goofy a dog, and Donald a duck. Their presence were exceptionally different from Yen Sid, they all looked so friendly and innocent. A lot like Sora, always happy. Yet now they looked slightly worried, which made Kairi sad. It was like a small part of that innocence was gone.

"The answer, he believed, would be found in the 'Keyblade War'. What if the challenges of our past were, in fact, a map to the light and darkness that battles within us all?"

Kairi humbly looked down. She was told a long time ago, that she was a princess of heart. No one had ever really elaborated the meaning of it, but she knew it meant that she didn't have any darkness within her. Only pure light. She was embarrased, she felt too privileged. Riku for example, had gone through hell and back to come to terms with his own darkness, while all she did was wait at home, worrying.

"Xehanort had to know, so he renounced his duties as master and chose the seeker's life. Since then, in many a guise, he has clashed with protectors of the light, keyblade wielders like yourselves. And mark my words, he will trouble us yet again. We must be ready. Which is why you, Sora, Riku and Kairi, are to be tested for the mark of a true Keyblade Master. No doubt you fancy yourselves masters already, but it takes years of training. Only a true master can teach you the proper way. All three of you have been training here for a total of three months, only two of you having actual experience in the outside worlds."

Kairi blushed. She was sure Yen Sid didn't mean to hurt her, but she still felt guilty.

"And even though I certainly would like to use years to perfect your keyblade wielding, we must be ready for when Xehanort strikes again. And he will strike again."

"But that's a formality" Sora said. "I already learned how to handle myself. Me, Riku and the King, oh and probably Kairi too. We can take on anything! Right Riku?"

"I don't know" Riku said, and took out his keyblade. "I think that in my heart, darkness still has a hold. Walking that path changed me. I'm not sure if I'm ready to wield a keyblade. Maybe I do need to be tested."

"Then count us in" Kairi said. "I'm sure we'll be able to do. Sora and Riku, they're pretty much masters already, and I'm not too bad either if I say so myself."

Kairi chuckled, she tried to remain confident. But she still felt so misplaced.


	3. Traverse Town

Kairi opened her eyes, and took a confused look at both her surroundings, and herself. Her clothes were different, she was wearing a dark purple jacket over a white shirt with a hood, and a pair of dark purple shorts.

"Great" She thought. "Yen Sid thinks purple is my color. Or maybe Sora and Riku made him do it, they're probably tired of me wearing pink."

Despite the minor fashion catastrophe, Kairi was still eager to prove her worth, as soon as she had found Sora and Riku.

It was still weird being in her fourteen year old body. There was still a sense of familiarity about it, and yet it still felt so alien. It wasn't much different, mostly just height and hair length, but it was enough to make it feel strange. She thought she was probably going to get used to it, and then she would return to her real body and have to get used to that again.

She walked down the streets while examining the world she was in. It seemed to be a small and rather old town. The houses were made of wood, and the ground was made of cobblestone. It was a dark night, but lit by thousands of shining stars, lampposts and light from the houses. Though the houses were lit, there didn't seem to be anybody there, the town was completely silent, right until:

"Shiki look out!"

Suddenly Kairi felt herself being punched forward into a wall. Her body ached, and she felt dizzy for a second. Once she pulled herself together, she got up on her feet again, and tried to make sense of what was happening.

A broad-shouldered and muscular young boy dressed in a white tank top and a black hat with a skull on, was fighting a black and blue panda with red eyes and a strange symbol on it's chest.

"Well...this is probably completely normal to Sora and Riku" Kairi said and summoned her keyblade.

She quickly ran towards the strange panda, and with a jump and a few quick strokes with her keyblade, defeated it.

The boy looked at her with a look of awe, and slight confusion.

"Well you're definitely not Shiki" He said.

"Heh, no I guess not, I'm Kairi, nice to meet you."

She directed her hand at him to shake hands with him, but he just stared confused at her hand.

"You're not a player?"

"A player?"

"In the reaper's game, it's...oh forget it, you can't help" He started to walk away.

"Hey wait, you don't know me, maybe I can be of help. I could help you look for that girl Shiki."

"...Well actually I'm not really looking for Shiki, you just looked like her. I'm looking for my little sister, Rhyme. Maybe you've seen her, she about this tall, and she was wearing a red shirt and a hat that looks like mine."

"No I haven't seen her. I just got here."

"Huh, what's your story then?"

"Uhm...It's complicated...like really, really complicated."

"Fair enough."

"Hey, you never told me your name."

"It's Beat."

"Beat. Now what was that thing you were fighting before?"

"You don't know? That was a Dream Eater."

"What's a Dream Eater?"

Beat took out his arm to the side as if a bird was sitting there. And in the next moment there was. It was a brightly coloured giant furry and smiling bat. It sort of just poofed into existence, much like the keyblade. For a moment Kairi wanted to scream over how cute it was! But she thought she should remain professional, this was an exam after all.

"Creatures of this world. There are two kinds. Spirits and Nightmares. The one you defeated before was a Nightmare, they're enemies, Spirits are allies."

Kairi stared at the smiling bat, and for a moment forgot all about her professionalism.

"Uhm can I...can I pet it?"

Beat looked surprised again, then he chuckled.

"Actually you can have one."

He summoned another one, this one had the form of purple cat. It had eight legs and some kind of musical note as it's tail. And it was equally cute! She was petting it, it was purring and smiling.

"Looks like you're already bonding."

"No I...I can't take this."

"Consider it a gift, as a thanks for saving me before, and for helping me find Rhyme. You can find a lot more of them around, they're pretty helpful. You summon them by..."

Suddenly the cat Dream Eater poofed away. Kairi had already figured it out, it was just like using the keyblade.

"I got it."

"Great! Now let's go."

Suddenly Beat jumped towards a brick wall, suddenly light started flashing around his body, and he started jumping from building to building.

"What the...?"

"It's called flowmotion! Come on try it!"

Kairi was skeptical, but intrigued. She ran towards the same wall, jumped against it, and the same kind of light started flowing around her. Then she jumped of the wall in an enormous leap. It was uncanny, the keyblade had already made her agile, but never this agile! It was like flying. Her and Beat started journeying through the town like this, jumping from buildings, flying through the air, surfing on railings. It was incredible. Kairi's heart pumped, she could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins. Then she started chuckling a little. Then laughing a little. Then laughing a lot. Then falling down to the ground in an enormous outburst of maniacal laughter, echoing throughout all the town. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think. It was just too fun.

Beat flowed down to her on the ground, looking confused at her, again.

"Uhm...are you okay?"

"No! This is amazing! Oh my God, how could I ever have lived without this? Has Sora and Riku been able to do this all the time? Oh I'm gonna kill them when I find them!"

She continued laughing, tears in her eyes, her body almost going into seizures. Then she started feeling dizzy. Her eyelids started getting heavier with each "ha". Then she fainted.

Everything was dark, for a long while. But a small white light started getting closer. The closer it got, the more Kairi realized that it wasn't light. It was a person, dressed all in white, Kairi couldn't see who it was, the person was turning her back in front of her. But Kairi had some idea...

She woke up again to the sound of Beat's voice, and the feeling of being carried, but it wasn't a feeling of safety.

"We had a deal hoodie! That if I brought her to you, you would send me and Rhyme back to our world!"

Then she heard another voice, she didn't know the voice and yet..."

"And do you really think you and sister carries even one little piece of my interest."

"You said you wouldn't hurt her! Bet you ain't even a reaper!"

Kairi fastly took out her keyblade and punched the man carrying her in his face.

"It can't be" She said, once she saw the man.

It was an Organization member. Or at least he bore the cloak. No matter who he was, she knew that those people were far too dangerous.

"Beat we have to run! Now!"

She quickly took Beat's hand and flowed away with the bewildered boy. But the Organization man simply took out his hand, and summoned a Dream Eater. A Nightmare. A giant Nightmare. It's form was some kind of combination between a lion and a Jack-in-the-box.

"Beat get to safety! I'll take care of this!"

"But..."

"No buts! Go!"

Beat ran away, and Kairi held her keyblade, and looked at the Nightmare with a determined look.

"Okay, tough guy, let's see how you handle the princess...no, the queen of flowmotion!"

The next few minutes, Kairi went completely berserk. She had never, fought against an opponent like that before. She jumped and flew around it with her newfound flowmotion ability. Sent her new cat spirit after it as a distraction. Slashed the monster with her keyblade, and shot the it with both fire and ice. After a long session of intense fighting, it vaporized and flew up into the sky.

Kairi was breathless and exhausted, but she also felt more proud and accomplished than ever before.

"Kairi 1, Nightmares 0. One step closer to becoming a master."

"That was pretty impressive."

Kairi turned around at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. It was another unknown boy, dressed in a white shirt. He had blonde hair and a somewhat feminine and mysterious face.

"Almost on the same level as Riku, though definitely better than Sora."

"Riku? Sora? Do you now where they are?"

"They're in this world, though not the same world."

"You're not making sense. Who are you?"

"My name is Joshua, I watch over the players in the Reaper's game. You must be Kairi, Sora did mention you, he never seems to keep quiet about you."

Kairi blushed.

"Yeah, I knew that. But where is he?"

"Follow me."

Kairi followed the strange boy to an opening full of springs, Beat was there too. And a lot of other people too, though they looked different, almost like ghosts. Sora and Riku was there too! Riku was with a girl with red hair and a stuffed cat, Kairi guessed that must be Shiki. Sora was with a boy she didn't know, he was very thin, had spiky brown hair and a pair of weird things in his ears. Must have been some kind of fashion accessory from this world. Though with Sora there was a little girl whom Kairi quickly guessed who was.

"Rhyme!" Beat shouted.

"She can't hear you Beat, they can only hear me, I'm the link between the three worlds."

"You need to elaborate some more."

"I'll field your questions one at a time. Let's start with Rhyme."

He looked like he was talking to everyone, it was weird.

"I'm hanging on to her dreams for her. They're my portal. Let's just say her dreams are a gateway between worlds. Next question, how could I possibly know your names right? This town has a little secret. It only appears when someone out there has need of shelter. I'll spare you the details, but right now they're made up of my dreams. So of course I know you, I dreamed you up. These projections you're seeing are other events happening in the other versions of this world, which is trapped by the Dream Eaters As for how the world got split in three, well I have a feeling you're going to have to ask this guy."

Joshua pointed to Riku, he was speaking with the Organization member. He took of his hood, to reveal a young man with grey spiky hair and ominous yellow eyes. Kairi knew something was wrong.

Soon, both Sora, Riku and Kairi were standing in front of Joshua, who was explaining who the other kids were.

"Something happened that brought their existence to an end. To keep them from fading altogether, I gathered up the very last remnants of their dreams and looked for a place to give them refuge. It was then this world appeared to answer my call, and Rhyme's dreams allowed us to reach it. Here, I thought they might have a chance, that the pieces of their dreams could make them whole again. Imagine my surprise when I realized dreams take bodily form in this world. It struck me, by linkin their dream pieces back together, maybe I could make them exist again. Maybe I could give them another chance."

Kairi could see Riku saying something, but she couldn't hear him.

"Well, why can't it? By ourselves, we're no one. It's when other people look at us and see something, that's the moment we each start to exist. All they needed was for someone to see them, connect with them. And the three of you were a big part of making it happen."

"Joshua...just, who are you?"

Kairi could see that Sora and Riku was talking too, perhaps they were all asking together. Joshua said he was watching over the games, but that wasn't enough of an explanation.

"Heh, let's say...a friend."

Suddenly angel wings sprouted at his back, he smiled at them, and flew elegantly up to the sky. The three seperated friends were all looking bedazzled up at the sky. But they had no time to dwell on it, the keyhole had emerged at a stone wall in front of them. Then they looked at each other, and nodded. They took out their keyblades, and locked the keyhole together once again.

They looked at each other one last time, before Sora and Riku headed of.

"Are you going now?" Beat asked.

"Yeah...I'm sorry but I have something important to do. I promise I'll come back, I strongly feel like there's some unfinished business here.

She took one last look at Sora and Riku before whispering:

"Don't ever forget, wherever you go, I'm always with you..."

"One dream is connected to another, which means we must choose in which 'Sleeping World' you will begin. I will return you to the Destiny Islands, just before they were swallowed by the darkness and plunged into sleep. Once dreams take you, you must let them guide you to the Sleeping Worlds. As there are seven pure lights, there are seven 'Sleeping keyholes'. Unlocking these will both grant you new powers, and free the worlds from their wakelessness. Complete this task, and return here safely, and I will name you all three...true masters."


End file.
